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And, yes, I DO take it personally

Saturday, August 02, 2008

A Brother Tim Op-Ed

*These opinions do not necessarily represent the opinions of And, yes, I DO take it personally."The ugly truth is this: American ideology is now based on barbarism."Tim O'DonnellI am both shamed and sickened by the blood-lust of my fellow Americans. Their love of war; shock and awe; death and destruction, saddens me. They are self-deluded cretins, living in a state of denial. Their greed and arrogance has culminated in mass mental retardation. They have an insatiable hunger for war, a hunger that will result in emaciation, and ultimately, their demise.We love war so much, we use the word at every opportunity. The War on Drugs; the War on Poverty; the War on Terror; ad infinitum, ad nuaseam. Let's be honest and call it what it really is, the War on Peace.Even Barack Obama, the man who, at one time, gave me a glimmer of hope, has resorted to using terms like 'good' wars and 'bad' wars. Let me give you a news-flash, Senator: War is war. There is no such thing as a 'good' war. The closest you can come to 'good', is a defensive war, which we haven't waged since the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941.The call is now going out, for us to redeploy our troops from the 'bad' war in Iraq, to the 'good' war in Afghanistan. The Afghanistan war is just as illegal, if not more so, than the Iraq war. We were not attacked by the Afghans (15 of the 19 supposed hijackers were Saudi Nationals), nor was it mandated or approved by the United Nations. In fact, it was contrary to the UN Charter. But in the eyes of America, the UN Charter is just like the Hague Conventions, the Geneva Conventions and Protocols, or the Constitution of the United States; it's just a piece of ....... paper.I guess I must have been out fishing, or studying my Bible, when I apparently missed the news cycle that reported when God had died, or retired, and relinquished His powers to the ruling class of America. We continue to live under the psychedelic delusion that we are the world's sole superpower, with the self-anointed/appointed authority to dictate policy and lifestyles to the world.The sad fact is, we are but a schoolyard bully with the temperament of a two year old. We don't pick on people who are powerful enough to bitch-slap us back into reality. We only lord over, or invade, smaller, weaker nations. You don't see us illegally attacking China or Russia. Does anyone wonder why?We have regressed to being barbaric, to accepting, and even embracing, the raping and pillaging, in a way, considering it to be somewhat noble. To the victor goes the spoils.We refuse to listen to sage counsel, such as 'What goes around, comes around'; 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you'; or 'You reap what you sow'. When, not if, we suffer a devastating attack (the magnitude 9-11 was merely a slap on the cheek), Americans will claim victim status. We will be bombarded with all the pseudo-reasons like, 'they hate us for our freedoms', or 'they hate us for our religion', or 'they hate us for our prosperity'. Never will you hear the real reasons. They hate us for our arrogance, aggression, greed, and lack of human compassion and decency.We like to self-identify ourselves as being a 'Christian' Nation; but where, in the New Testament, does it command, condone, or even allow the things we do? Torture; secret renditions; incinerating cities (Hiroshima and Nagasaki); destroying and decimating foreign lands; poisoning and polluting their soil and air with things like chemicals and depleted uranium? Dropping bombs, firing cruise missiles and the like, to totally level neighborhoods and cities, indiscriminately killing innocents, many of them women, children, and elderly.Can anyone honestly believe God is smiling down on us, and saying, "Well done, my good and faithful servants"? Does anyone believe He's saying, "Heckuva job, Georgie"?Unfortunately, what goes around, DOES come around. The chickens are already coming home to roost. The 'lucky' ones that do make it back from these senseless wars, are saddled with lifelong injuries and disfigurements. Many, with severe psychological problems, that we try to explain away as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The truth is, when normal people are trained and ordered to carry out inhumane atrocities, or to be eyeball-witnesses of them; it would be a 'disorder' if they WEREN'T traumatised. Add to that, the horrors of things yet to come. Things like the cancers, health problems, and birth-defects caused by our forces being exposed to, and inhaling the DU dust. It's not only the 'enemy' who will suffer. Did we learn absolutely nothing from things like Agent Orange in Viet Nam?I am a firm believer in eschatology. We are living in precursory times, and I am but a harbinger of things to come. It may not happen next month, or next year; but America is in it's penultimate stage. Can we change course? Can we right our wrongs? Can we repent? Do we have the intestinal fortitude? I doubt it.America will be forced to take on the role of the Phoenix, and arise from it's ashes. How sad. The 'School of Hard Knocks' is an expensive and unnecessary education. Some learn from their mistakes; some learn from others' mistakes; and some never learn at all.This my country too, and I resent that the obscenely wealthy elite are herding us onto the slippery slope of our demise. And weary, that the intellectually-challenged populace is saying, "Yeah, that's cool............. Honey, bring me another beer, American Idol is gettin' ready to start".Get out your proverbial wallets, it's time to pay the Piper,Brother Tim

Thursday, July 31, 2008

The Washington Post won't provide context even from their OWN newspaper, even when it's from YESTERDAY

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates says that even winning the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan will not end the "Long War" against violent extremism and that the fight against al-Qaeda and other terrorists should be the nation's top military priority over coming decades, according to a new National Defense Strategy he approved last month.

yeah, ok, we're all familiar with the "Long War"/endless war rhetoric... it's been shoved down our collective throats for years as the no-argument excuse for lining the pockets of defense contractors and bush cronies, shredding the constitution, stripping our civil liberties, justifying torture, collecting mountains of private information on everyone and everything, and perpetrating abuses unimaginable in what we thought was the land of liberty and justice for all... but yesterday, in this very newspaper on page 4, it was revealed that the rand corporation, not exactly a bastion of peace-loving, dope-smoking hippies, had this to say...

The Bush administration's terrorism-fighting strategy has not significantly undermined al-Qaeda's capabilities, according to a major new study that argues the struggle against terrorism is better waged by law enforcement agencies than by armies.

The study by the nonpartisan Rand Corp. also contends that the administration committed a fundamental error in portraying the conflict with al-Qaeda as a "war on terrorism." The phrase falsely suggests that there can be a battlefield solution to terrorism, and symbolically conveys warrior status on terrorists, it said.

[...]

"In most cases, military force isn't the best instrument," said Jones, a terrorism expert and the report's lead author.

Addressing the U.S. campaign against al-Qaeda, the study noted successes in disrupting terrorist financing, but said the group remains a formidable foe. Al-Qaeda is "strong and competent," and has succeeded in carrying out more violent attacks since Sept. 11, 2001, than in all of its previous history. Moreover, its organizational structure has adapted and evolved over time, "making it a more dangerous enemy," Jones and Libicki wrote.

The authors call for a strategy that includes a greater reliance on law enforcement and intelligence agencies in disrupting the group's networks and in arresting its leaders. They say that when military forces are needed, the emphasis should be on local troops, which understand the terrain and culture and tend to have greater legitimacy.

very interesting, no...? but did the high potentates who exercise the ever-so-thorough oversight on the news that gets printed in the wapo see fit to mention THAT in the gates article...? of course not... so, the very day after the rand corporation story is published, decrying the entire notion of the "Long War," our secretary of defense bald-facedly declares that we're not only fighting the "Long War," but that it will continue on for DECADES, without ONE SINGLE MENTION of what the very same newspaper published the day before...

yeah, i know... it's not news to anyone that our news media practices propaganda instead of journalism, nor is it news that they pretend that what they reported as news yesterday is somehow irrelevant to today, but it's still shocking to see such a graphic display of dishonesty, to say nothing of a goddam shame...

absolutely stunning, isn't it...? the kind of government "WE" want...? WE...?? i had to stop and read that twice and then even a third time... the unmitigated gall of someone who could write something like that for one of the world's major newspapers simply bowls me over...

A Mistake???????

A la the Chicago Tribune's famous "Dewey Defeats Truman" headline, folks all across Idaho are howling over a snafu that put presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama on a political button with Larry Craig, who isn't even running for reelection in Idaho on account of his arrest in an airport men's room sex sting.

The unlikely pair appear together on a button under Obama's signature campaign banner: "Change We Can Believe In."

But that kind of change is too much for anyone to believe in. Even if the conservative Idaho senator were running again, rest assured, Obama would not be lending his name to that reelection effort, or his face on an Obama-Craig button.

Suffice it to say, the button was a mistake. The button maker, Tigereye Design in Ohio, got the wrong Larry. The face they meant to put on the button was that of Idaho Senate Democratic candidate Larry LaRocco.

At least they got the name correct. Underneath the photos of Obama and Craig, the button reads: Obama for President/LaRocco for U.S. Senate.

[...]

Tigereye Design, which makes buttons for unions and other Democratic causes and candidates, seemed mortified by the mistake. "First, let us apologize to the Larry LaRocco campaign for the dark cloud we have placed over their efforts," says Justin Hemminger, the political coordinator for the button maker.

However, Hemminger says Tigereye cannot be blamed. Here is the explanation he provided: "When our designer sat down to make thisbutton, he positioned his mouse pointer over a photo of Larry LaRocco. This particular designer uses a fairly wide pointer arrow, which may have been in contact with a photo of Larry Craig."

A wide pointer arrow, eh? Is that like a computer's mouse's equivalentof a wide stance?

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Ted (Intertubes) Stevens indicted

A federal grand jury has indicted longtime Senator Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, on corruption charges after more than a year’s investigation, a federal law enforcement official has confirmed to The Times’s David Johnston.

The Justice Department plans to hold a 1:20 p.m. news briefing on details of the indictment.

Just a year ago, federal agents raided Mr. Stevens’ home following questions about renovations at the home. A few months before that, an Alaska businessman Bill J. Allen admitted to bribery, and in court papers acknowledged making $243,000 in possibly illegal payments to a state lawmaker identified only as “Senator B.” That abbreviation referred to Senator Ted Stevens’s son, Ben Stevens.

The sprawling federal investigation has ensnared several local and state officials, as well as federal officials. The Anchorage Daily News has a breakdown of those who have been charged and/or convicted.

The 84-year-old senator is up for re-election this year while under investigative scrutiny, a matter that had not gone unmentioned by Democrats. His opponent, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, has been campaigning hard against the longest-sitting Republican member of the Senate, and Democrats were hopeful that Mr. Begich would be a serious contender.

i'm happy to see ANY accountability for ANYONE, but when i start to see the really big fish like rove and his murderous former boss getting the book thrown at them, i'll pop open that bottle of hard, sparkling cider that's been cooling in my fridge for the past several years...

Monday, July 28, 2008

"Tweet, tweet, tweet and then they puke down your throat"

The US has - hands down - the most propagandized population in the world.

Even people in North Korea have a firmer grasp of reality.

Why is this so?

It's the news media. They've mastered the art of reporting nothing and making it seem like it's something.

They're also very creative and convincing first class liars. Kind of like Bush Republicans.

What's the solution?

Scott Ritter has an answer and thanks to the Internet, more and more people in the US are breaking free of the info-lock.

what ritter is really talking about here is how we need to hone our skills in pattern recognition... if we truly want to be informed in this day and age, it is vital that we dedicate ourselves to the acquisition of solid information, information that it is OUR responsibility to make sense out of...